Airfix Hawker Typhoon 1B 1/72 scale Model kit unboxing

The Hawker Typhoon (Tiffy in RAF slang), was a British single-seat fighter-bomber, produced by Hawker Aircraft. It was intended to be a medium–high altitude interceptor, as a replacement for the Hawker Hurricane but several design problems were encountered and it never completely satisfied this requirement.

The Typhoon was originally designed to mount twelve .303 inch (7.62 mm) Browning machine guns and be powered by the latest 2000 hp engines. Its service introduction in mid-1941 was plagued with problems and for several months the aircraft faced a doubtful future. When the Luftwaffe brought the formidable Focke-Wulf Fw 190 into service in 1941, the Typhoon was the only RAF fighter capable of catching it at low altitudes; as a result it secured a new role as a low-altitude interceptor.

It became established in roles such as night-time intruder and long-range fighter. From late 1942 the Typhoon was equipped with bombs and from late 1943 RP-3 ground attack rockets were added to its armoury. With those weapons and its four 20mm Hispano cannon, the Typhoon became one of the Second World War's most successful ground-attack aircraft.

I love the Typhoon, its a great looking plane.  My Grandfather flew it in WW2 as well, so it has a personal connection.  When the wife picked me up a Typhoon model kit, I knew it needed to be built and looked at.

Lets look in the box....

  It comes with 3 sprues of good quality plastic.  Some 1/72 kits lack detail, i recall building a ton of them back in the 80s, and this is one of the nicer ones I have seen, plenty of panel detail work to avoid a flat surface.

 I love the detail on the cannons, with a little trimming you can have the wing inspection panels open to see the breaches and ammunition feeds.

There appears to be little to no flash on the pieces, again a nice change from my younger days of shaving bits down with a knife.

 I love the cut outs for the spent cartridge ejection system, a small touch, but one I approve of.

 You can also see the optional bomb racks, the plane can be built with out ordnance, or optional bombs or rockets for its traditional ground attack role.

 the clear parts come in a little baggy, its only the canopy, but again you can model it with canopy open if you wish, so with the canopy open, and gun ports up it can make a great diorama piece

 The decals are nice and clear, providing three options, standard so you can make a "generic" one.

 decals with invasion stripes for 247 squadron.

 and decals for 439 squadron.

 The instruction sheet folds out nicely, and is simple and clear

 it gives a nice step by step guide, and shows you all the optional parts you can change to build one to suit.

 I think the rockets are the option I will go for when I build her.

 The painting guide is nice and in colour, which is a change from when I last made a kit, giving you the right colours, and where to put the decals.

263 Squadron was the one my Grandfather flew in, its a pity it was not in the box decal wise, but they can not have all the squadrons that flew them.  I am looking forward to this build, its a great looking kit, and will be a display piece when I finish, though of course...... it could be the start of a 1/72 Bolt Action force....